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aw11mr2 | profile | all galleries >> Fall 2008 Road Trip to Southwest, USA >> Carlsbad Cavern National Park tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Carlsbad Cavern National Park

It was cold morning when I awoke in the morning but I had to get up and hit the road.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

I was the third vehicle in the Visitor Center parking lot at 8:05. The visitor center is undergoing renovation. The concessionaire store and cafeteria looked the same but the National Park Service side looked completely different from my last visit. I learned from my last visit that the trail into the cavern using the natural cavern entrance is closed after 2:00 p.m. The cavern can still be visited after 2:00 pm. but only by taking the elevator down to the main room. The length of the path from the natural entrance to the main room is around 2.8 miles. They open the path at 8:30 a.m. At the entrance of the cavern is an amphitheater where people can watch the bats fly in and out of the entrance when the bats are occupying part of the cavern. Other than the ability to say that I walked down into the bowels of the earth, there is not that much more to see than if you took the elevator down and walk the self-guided path in the main corridor. It is dark in the cavern so most of my pictures came out blurry. It is best to enjoy yourself and buy a postcard when you get to the surface.

The typical sight within the cavern. It is very dark with subdued spotlights on selected features.

I reached the main room of the cavern at around 9:30. I had walked the trail in the main room last time so I took the elevator back up to the surface and hit the road.
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Carlsbad Cavern
Carlsbad Cavern
Walnut Canyon
Walnut Canyon
Walnut Canyon
Walnut Canyon
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
Carlsbad postcards
Carlsbad postcards
Amphitheather in front of natural entrance
Amphitheather in front of natural entrance
Cave Swallows
Cave Swallows
Natural Entrance
Natural Entrance
Path into the nautral entrance
Path into the nautral entrance
Natural entrance
Natural entrance
Looking up at the natural entrance
Looking up at the natural entrance
Path in the cavern
Path in the cavern
View into the void
View into the void
Cavern Development
Cavern Development
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern features
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern feature
Cavern feature
Further down into the cavern
Further down into the cavern
Whales mouth
Whales mouth
Pathway
Pathway
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern features
Cavern features
IMG_3152a.jpg
IMG_3152a.jpg
IMG_3153a.jpg
IMG_3153a.jpg
Speleothems
Speleothems
Another blurry photo
Another blurry photo
Big Room Route Map
Big Room Route Map
Another blurry photo
Another blurry photo
Cavern wall features
Cavern wall features
Elevator room to the left
Elevator room to the left
Door to elevator room
Door to elevator room
Elevator room
Elevator room
Map in elevator room
Map in elevator room
Cavern elevator information
Cavern elevator information
Cavern map
Cavern map
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